


Titles are hard, bro.

by ChemicalRoseRomance



Series: the good, the bad - the dad-life [1]
Category: Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator
Genre: Cockblocking, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Family, Family Fluff, Humor, M/M, No Drama, Parenthood, Romantic Fluff, Sexual Frustration, Shower Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-08-16
Packaged: 2018-12-13 05:21:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11752899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChemicalRoseRomance/pseuds/ChemicalRoseRomance
Summary: After Amanda leaves for College, Thomas stays behind. He's not quite sure how to cope by himself after having his daughter as a sidekick for the last eighteen years.Fortunately Craig and his kids know how to keep him entertained.





	1. Letting Go

**Author's Note:**

> I really wanted to know how Craig and the Dadsona (in my case Thomas Huxley) would continue their story and started writing for my own pleasure.  
> Since it didn't turn out too badly, I decided to post it on here.  
> I will update this story as soon as the next chapter is written.
> 
> Please feel free to point out mistakes and I'll do my best to correct them :)

“Dad, you need to stop now. If you cry, I’ll start crying. And if that happens I’ll never be able to get into the car. Then I can’t go to College and I’ll never get a job as a Pretentious Photographer TM.” Amanda drifted off, now talking mainly to herself. “Instead, I’ll stick around forever and feast of your table until you die. Then I’ll finally be able to get a medium sized dog with a handkerchief around its neck ... but because I’ll be broke without your income, I will have to sell said handkerchief and live with my dog on the streets until the end of my days.” She shook herself, punched my shoulder and directed her broad grin at me “Hence, why I need to leave and you need to stop looking at me as if somebody spoiled the season finale of Ice Road Ghost Truckers.”

Thomas patted her head – something she would only let him indulge in if she sensed a meltdown coming, on his part that is – and sniffled “I know Amanda Panda. Proud of you.  I know you’ll be fine, but-”

“No buts. I promise to send you pictures and text you more often than is probably healthy between a father and his technically adult daughter.  Besides, something tells me you’ll be plenty busy.” As if he hadn’t known what she insinuated, she nudged him to look into the direction of his bro’s house. “That’s a different kind of _butt_ you should be interested in.”

“You know, you make the goodbye so much easier on me.” Thomas drew her into a hug “Be careful. Make smart decisions. Keep bottles of water and painkillers in stock next to your bed so you don’t have to get up with a hangover and search for them.”

She pushed him away “Best dadvice you’ve ever given me. Who knew you had it in you.”

“My roommate was after all Kegstand Craig.” He opened the car door. “I love you and I will miss you. Now leave before I reconsider letting you go.”

“Love you Pops.”

Amanda got in the car. While she put on the seatbelt Thomas shut the door. Then she was gone.

He must have stood there for several minutes, blindly starring down the road she had taken. After eighteen years of having a part of himself next to him, he felt weirdly empty now that his daughter was no longer there. Before she was born, the thought of having zero alone time and constant responsibility was mortifying. Now that Amanda went her own way, he missed it. He missed her: her smile, the teasing, the way she had managed to snag the best pieces of Alex and himself and make them into her own person.

“You okay bro?” Craig wrapped a strong dad-arm around his waist, the other kept River firmly tucked under his chin.

Thomas shook his head in denial. “I miss her already. I remember when she was nothing but a tiny baby with an unhealthy obsession for sunglasses.”

“It may not be the same, but here.” Craig shoved the barely awake toddler into his arms, and instinctively Thomas drew her close. River gurgled happily, blew a spit bubble and tried to pat his cheeks with her chubby short fingers. It felt more like not well aimed slaps, but Thomas took it as a gesture of friendly intent anyway.

Craig pulled him closer and buried his head next to his daughter’s in the crook of Thomas neck. “Come in, I made breakfast. Pancakes, the unhealthy kind with chocolate and syrup.”

 “I know there is a reason I feel attracted to you, bro.”


	2. Writer's Block

He stared at the blank screen. It didn’t matter how hard he tried, the words wouldn’t be summoned to describe the epic end of his latest novel, which did not have a final title. Title names were hard and a lot of crushing responsibility. You really had to nail them and usually he left that aspect to the end until his editor was basically throwing a fit.

Thomas’ main character, Robin (who may or may not be inspired by  a certain Robert), is a leather jacket wearing, menthol cigarette smoking badass of a middle aged cul-de-sac living man who fights against evil spirits in his spare time.

The book had a good vibe, everything Thomas had written was conclusive and the self doubt that usually befell him whenever he wrote was kept at a minimum. In the last week however, he had gotten stuck. The right words would not come to him like they usually did and all the emotions he put into the scene felt stilted.

Rubbing his eyes, he re-read the last sentence and promptly deleted it. Trying to come up with an idea had resulted in him sitting in front of his PC for the better part of two days. Mugs that formerly contained coffee covered the surface, one plate with crumbs of Mat’s banana bread stacked on top of them.  Apparently Amanda made copies of the key for the neighbourhood dads before her leave.  When Thomas asked her about it on the phone, she laughed at him and said that the only ones who had received a key were Craig (obviously), Mat (to provide nourishment, ergo the banana bread), Damien (to bring over dogs from the shelter that were in need of a cuddle) and for some reason Robert, who had – according to Amanda – been very pleasantly surprised. As had been Thomas – surprised that is – when Robert entered Thomas’ bedroom uninvited at two in the morning with two mugs of organic cocoa and the need for an open ear.

When Thomas told Craig about his late night visitor, the later became quite sombre and seemed upset. Thomas wasn’t proud of the fact that it took him several minutes to figure out why the mood had dropped. When he did, he immediately corrected his mistake. After several kisses and clarifications about the type of relationship he had and had certainly not with Robert, Craig seemed much happier. And even if anyone noticed that Craig practically shoved his toddler into Robert’s arms with the instructions to “Keep her entertained, bro”, nobody made any comments on it.

So, life was good. Amanda was fine. If he didn’t finish this goddamned book the costs for Amanda’s higher education would probably rob him of his home and sanity, but that wasn’t important, was it?

... He needed to finish the book.

Suddenly a baby was plopped into his lap. The baby was River; the plopper was Craig who had exchanged his athleasure wear for a smug fitting suit and the baby carrier for a laptop bag.

“Sorry bro, I didn’t mean to jump this onto you, but could you watch River for a bit? I have a meeting, the babysitter I’d usually call is down with the flu and Smashley is currently on a cruise with her new boyfriend.” He scratched his head, the smile he sent Thomas’ way was unsure.

“Sure bro. Me and River are going to have a blast. I’m going to tell her all about the pleasures of a non-sport dominated lifestyle and feed her plenty of sugar just before you come to pick her up.” To make a point of the sheer fun the two were going to have, he tickled the baby and she screeched with happiness.

“Awesome! I’ll be back as soon as I can. In the diaper bag is everything you need. In case of anything: call me.”

Craig kissed his daughter on the forehead and pecked Thomas on the lips. Before he was out of the door, Thomas yelled after him “Your butt looks good in the suit!”

“Thanks, bro! You know how to make me feel special. See you later. Be good, River!”

Therefore, Thomas found himself in the same situation as previous, only now with a baby. He looked from the guilt inducing screen back to the chubby cheeked, smiling toddler and made his decision.

“Little bro, wanna hang out? Let’s do something fun and when daddy comes home you can tell him all about it. I bet he will be jealous of all the cool things we did.”

 

It took some getting used to leaving the house with a toddler again. A blanket on the floor served as her resting spot while he put on his shoes and went in search for his phone and wallet. Praying that the diaper bag truly contained everything needed, he picked up River and headed out.

Driving was not an option; he didn’t have a car seat. Therefore, the cul-de-sack would have to do. He headed to the park. The only people around were Ernest and Lucien, they sent a wave in his general direction and continued their discussion.

River, he thought, was always a very content baby. She barely ever cried, giggling however seemed to come very naturally to her. Besides the Capybara incident, she never had a true meltdown in his presence. Amanda was also a very sweet baby, but if she got upset there was no consoling her.

The twins, while sometimes a bit cheeky, were at heart kind and mindful. The day Amanda left, both Briar and Hazel had tried to distract him the best they could. While not completely at ease, after a day of playing and roughhousing with the two of them, he was so exhausted he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.

After he had deemed playtime to be over, he picked River up, immediately noticing the smell. The odour no father can ever forget, no matter who many years ago the diaper ages have come to an end.

“I suppose we’re going inside somewhere to freshen you up a bit, hm? Would you be content with a trip to the Coffee Spoon? I know for a fact that Mat installed baby changing stations in both male and female restrooms, for equalities sake.”

Unfortunately River wasn’t able to answer him, so Coffee Spoon it was.

At the counter stood Pablo “THOMAS!”

“PABLO!”

“YOU HAVE A BABY!”

“I’m aware. I’m watching River for Craig until he gets off of work.”, he shifted River from one side to the other, grabbed one of her tiny hands and waved them at Pablo. Baby River seemed quite intrigued by the bundle of green haired energy.

“Hello to you as well, tiny baby.” Pablo almost whispered, he had found a volume previously unknown to him. Then, he asked “What would you like today?”

 “Eh, Right Said Banana Bread and Godspeed You! Black Coffee. Please.”

“... The names are quite a lot, huh?”

“... Yeah. If I’m not at my table, could you just leave it there? River needs some attention.”

“Sure dude. Banana Bread and Coffee coming right up.”

After their adventure in the bathroom, that went better than expected due to Thomas’ dadabilities, they sat down at the table; Thomas had his Coffee and Banana Bread, River munched on some baby biscuits and juice that were in the diaper bag.

It was around lunch that Craig called.

“Hey bro. How are you two doing?”

“Great. We were at the park, now we’re in the Coffee Spoon. One of us is having Coffee, I’m not gonna tell you who.”

“Man, River always seemed like an early developer. “

“Totally bro. But seriously, she’s been really sweet all day, except what she left in her nappies, that wasn’t sweet at all. You know when you’ll be back?”

“Yeah, about that ... it’s going to take a bit longer than expected. I know this is a lot to ask of you, but would you pick up Hazel and Briar from their friend? They had a sleepover and I thought I’d be back in time, but ...”

“No problem, just text me the address. I don’t have a car seat for River, so I might have to leave her at Damien’s for a bit while I go get them.”

“Actually ... well I figured it would only be fair to give you a key for my house, if I have yours. It’s in the kitchen drawer that Amanda has labelled “...Things”. There is a second car seat in the garage so you can take her.”

“Why do you have a second car seat?”

“Well, i figured that we might go on trips together and instead of always taking my car, or always putting the car seat from one car into another, I might just buy a second one...”

“Bro?”

“... Yeah?”

“That’s really sweet. “

“You don’t think it’s a bit much?” Thomas could hear the uncertainty in Craig’s voice.

“I know you come in a package deal Craig. And the package is pretty awesome. So if you feel the need to store toys and your girls’ clothes at my place, there’s always room for you and them.”

“So  ... setting up the crib for your house is not an issue?” Now he sounded smug.

“Nope, we'll start right away as soon as you’re back.”

 

Thomas found the key where Craig had said it would be, in a drawer next to a tiny violin and something that strongly resembled what seemed to be an action figure of The Rock wrapped in yarn that somebody had tried to set on fire. Thomas considered throwing it away; instead he just shrugged, took the keys and shut the drawer.

Craig’s house looked like a showroom at IKEA. It was open, modern, he dared having white furniture with three kids around and the only sign of habitation were the framed pictures on the wall.

Thomas went straight to the garage, as predicted there was the car seat. It had little flamingos on it and Thomas figured that it would work well with his flower decor.

Installing the car seat was a pain in the ass. He managed to hit his head several times and only succeeded with the help of Brian, who knew how to install the seat but ended up getting stuck. Brian took it with good humour, Thomas had long ago come to the conclusion that Brian being superior in every way had its benefits (especially if Brian offered help with something he didn’t even care about not being able to do in the first place) and soon Thomas was good to go.

When he rang the doorbell, one of the ladies he recognised from softball practice opened the door. She gave him a challenging look and asked, quite rudely “What?”

“I’m here to pick up Briar and Hazel. Their dad is in a meeting and unfortunately couldn’t make it.”

“And you would be?” Clearly, the lady was not trying to make a good impression. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and blocked the way.

Before Thomas could answer, a child shaped weight flung itself at him and after he had successfully caught he was tightly embraced.

“Thomas!” A second weight crashed into him. He squeezed both of them tightly and set them down to protect his spine from further damage. After all he hadn’t warmed up.

“Thomas is our dad’s boyfriend. He is really nice, plays with us, has raised a daughter all by himself who is now attending one of the most renowned Colleges for Art in the United States. Also, he makes a great cherry pie.”

“Ah.” Well. That was one speechless lady right there.

Thomas placed a hand on each of the girls’ shoulders “It was nice meeting you. Say goodbye, Hazel and Briar. Have a nice evening.”

The drive home was filled with chattering. The twins told him what they had done in the time they hadn’t seen him (which wasn’t very long).

The rest of the day was spent playing, drawing and in River’s case napping. The day had come to an end, Craig still had not returned and Thomas told the girls that they could sleep in Amanda’s bedroom. After they had brushed their teeth and changed into their pyjamas, the girls insisted on a story.

Thomas settled on top of the sheets, River peacefully tucked under his chin sleeping, the girls slipped under the blankets. He told them a story about a horse named Sir Horsington, and as he spoke all three of them couldn’t keep their eyes open.

 

Thomas woke when the weight of River was removed from his chest. He immediately opened his eyes to fight the intruder only to find Craig holding River and smiling at him.

“When did you get back?”

“Half an hour ago? I don’t know, but enough to set River’s crib up.” As if to prove a point, he settled River into her new sleeping place. “By the way, nice fighting posture.”

“I get very protective of my babies. When Amanda was small I slept with her in her crib because the mailman had looked at her in a weird way.”

“Lovely, bro. Come on, get up. Let’s go to bed. Looks like the kids are out for good.”

“We had a fun day.” Thomas slipped out of the bed. Craig pulled him close and kissed the tip of his nose. Craig still wore his suit, the only thing he had taken off were his shoes and the jacket. Thomas tugged on his tie. “Come on, let’s get cleaned up and slip into my bed.”

After they both had settled, Craig pulled Thomas closer and wrapped his entire body around him. He started kissing and nibbling on Thomas’ neck.

“Craig. It’s two am and we’re supposed to be functioning adults by seven. So whatever you plan on doing, and I’m really not trying to bully you into things you don’t want, but do it quickly.”

The lips kissed their way up, until they found another set to make contact with. They rubbed against each other, trying to feel as much as possible of the other’s body. Heat radiated of off them, there were whispers and wandering hands with the intention to make the other one feel good, feel loved.

They both reached their climax as quietly as they had begun; the wandering hands settled, keeping each other close.

Sated and comforted Thomas and Craig fell asleep.


	3. Show Rather Than Tell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've changed the Rating for this story for reasons you all can probably imagine (I wasn't quite sure if I'd feel comfortable writing a sex scene, turns out I manage just fine).
> 
> In case explicit sexual content is not something you want to read, I've decided to place *** before and after the paragraph that contains the smut.
> 
> PS: Thanks to all of you that left Kudos, it's great to see that somebody actually enjoys reading what I come up with :)

A sharp kick to his ribs woke Thomas. The bed, that had only hours before been a place of peace, quiet and foremost sleep, had turned into a trampoline for two hyper girls.

Next to him he could feel Craig pulling himself into an upright position. Thomas followed suit, leaning against the headboard and trying to keep his eyes open. Suddenly he found himself with his lap full of an overexcited Briar. He pulled her into a hug, mainly to keep her still and protect his body from more kick-induced harm.

“Morning honey. Slept well?” He could feel her nod against his chest and looked over to Craig who had managed to catch the other hyper twin. Craig had tucked his head close to his daughter, mumbling in her ear and stroking the dark hair.

“Can we have some breakfast? River is also up, she’s in her crib playing with Arnold.”

That was the cue to start the morning. The girls went into the bathroom to brush their teeth, Craig and Thomas got dressed and freed River from her comfy prison.

They made a simple breakfast of scrambled eggs and fruits. While Craig had started to indulge more often, he still kept up a healthy lifestyle and made sure his girls – and his bro – ate well too.

After they had all settled at the table and the girls stuffed their faces, Craig announced that afterwards it would be time for a nice workout. The girls collectively groaned, even River’s tiny features seemed to express annoyance.

Thomas cut in before Craig could start his ramble about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle “It probably wouldn’t hurt me to get some fresh air and a bit of movement before I start my writing session for the day.” Which was hopefully successful, otherwise he’d have to ask for an extension of his deadline. “If you girls don’t want to come along, I’m sure Mr. Bloodmarch wouldn’t mind watching you for a bit.”

At that the girls visibly cheered up. They absolutely loved Damien and his ... everything really. They were fascinated with the architecture of his house, in particular the gargoyles and the butterflies that were mounted to the wall of his living room. Plus, they would usually get to see the dogs at the shelter.

Craig smiled at him. If Damien agreed to watch the girls, they would not only be well taken care of. Thomas and Craig would also receive some much needed alone time. It wasn’t easy being responsible for a child, let alone three. Thomas knew that, after all he had raised Amanda by himself. He sometimes wondered how things would have turned out if Alex hadn’t been in that car accident. If they’d still be in love, if seeing Amanda leave would have been easier. If they would have given her a brother or sister.

It didn’t matter. Opposite him sat Craig, his best friend and bro in college and his ... more than best friend now. Titles were difficult. Craig and Alex were polar opposites. Alex was always a very balanced guy. He drank alcohol, but never excessively. He would occasionally go for a run, but never overdid it and had a pretty average physique.

Craig went at everything with a 120 percent approach. When he drank in college, he _drank_. Now that he was trying to be the best example for his girls, he was in a constant strain to deliver. Sport, cooking, cleaning, working – he never slacked. Thomas knew that this somewhat addictive personality trait wasn’t something Craig would ever be able to cut out entirely.

 

As it turned out, Damien did have time to watch the girls. He insisted on picking them up and to everyone’s great surprise Lucien came along. Thomas couldn’t help himself; he had to take a picture when the five of them had turned their backs to cross the street to the Bloodmarchs’ house.

It came out great: Damien’s tall dark figure, balancing a toddler on his hip, was almost like something you’d see in a horror film.  The only thing disturbing that imagery was the diaper bag with pink bunnies he had slung around his shoulder. Lucien, on the other hand, wasn’t even saved by his choice to dress head to toe in black. While usually a look at him would scare the elderly, the presence of the hyper twins hanging off of him gave the impression, that he was just an approachable young man with a bad sense of fashion.

He clicked _send_ and received an answer only seconds later.

_“Awesome motive, bad lighting. Damien is like a sweet goth uncle and i kind of dig lucien’s style. Btw, fun alone time with craig. Be a responsible adult and don’t do anything i wouldn’t do.”_

Craig read the text and chuckled. “Don’t do anything she wouldn’t do? I have never seen her jogging or doing any type of exercise.”

“She’s a smart kid after all... used to play softball once. That didn’t end well.”

“I don’t think I want to know. Come on bro, let’s get changed and head out.” As I turned to walk away he grabbed my butt.

“Hey!”

Craig grinned wide enough to show off his back teeth. “Sorry, couldn’t hold back. You may complain about the exercise, but you have to admit that your formally great looking ass is now a sculpture made by the Gods of Sexy.”

“... That made even me cringe. You made the dad of dad jokes uncomfortable, I hope you’re happy.” As I walked passed him, I took the chance and grabbed his junk.

“Hey!”

 

The run was ... a lot of running. Mostly uphill. For two hours.

“Bro, don’t you feel great?!”

“UGHHHHHHHHHHH ... My body ... is a temple ... a very cracked and ... damaged temple that barely keeps itself ... upright.”

“Nice facade, though.”

Thomas stretched, trying to calm his breathing. In all fairness, he had improved. He no longer felt like his lungs were trying to make an escape through his mouth and his butt and legs had already shaped up quite nicely. To get a six-pack he would probably have to forgo Mat’s banana bread and muffins and that was a commitment he just wasn’t ready to make. Now that he thought about it ... Hugo’s and his weekly indulging in a cheese plate would also have to stop. Nah, he was perfectly fine without a six-pack.

“Wow, you did quite a workout there.”

Thomas looked up to see a middle aged lady walking up to him. Just to check if she was talking to him, or if he’d make an ass out of himself by answering, he looked around. Nobody was there, not even Craig.

“Yeah ... I’m trying to get fit.”

“Well, I can tell it’s working for you.” She looked him up and– wait, was she flirting with him?! He hadn’t been flirted to since before Amanda was born and that didn’t end well.

“Are you here all alone?”

“Actually I’m here with my ...?” He didn’t really know how to end that sentence. Craig and him were together-together. Saying that Craig was his boyfriend seemed idiotic – they were grown, manly men. Manfriend? Sounded like he was trying the no-homo route, but he would never deny that he was full-on yes-homo. Especially for Craig.

He decided to go with:

“My partner.”

Just as Craig showed up and threw in:

“His boyfriend.”

They shared a look, then made their excuses to the fairly staggered looking lady and went on their way.

“She almost ate you up with her eyes. I can’t believe that nerve of that woman.”

Thomas stopped himself from pointing out that basically all of the moms of the softball team – married or not – had tried to get Craig into their beds. He also chose not to mention that he was actually a little bit flattered she had found him attractive enough to approach him. He just uh-ed and ah-ed along with Craig’s rambling.

“What are we?”

“Mhm – wait, what?”

“So, like, are we boyfriends, partners, lovers, Brokeback Mountain cosplayers that have transferred the film’s universe into a reality-adapted version – how should we introduce each other?”

“I didn’t go with boyfriend because clearly neither of us is in their awkward teenage phase, I mean I’m a widower and you’re a divorcé. Manfriend doesn’t work either.”

He threw in seriously “Unless we were no-homo homos.”

 “Exactly. Partners-“

“Sounds like we co-own a lobster farm.”

“So, not partners, then?” Craig shook his head in denial. “Okay, but telling people we’re lovers might give them the wrong idea.”

Craig agreed “Makes it seem like we’re in some vintage novel, having a forbidden love affair and it ends with either pregnancy, death or both.”

“Indeed bro. However, we’re not any closer to a word that describes us.” Craig visibly puffed up and was about to open his mouth when Thomas interrupted. “And the word “bro” certainly is not fit to describe a sexual relationship between us. I’m not going to tell people you’re my bro, just for them to see me making out with you minutes later.”

His mouth snapped shut and his shoulders sagged. “So what now?”

Thomas cracked a smile “Simple.” He pulled Craig closer by his shirt and kissed him quite passionately. After he drew away, he kept his lips in close distance to Craig’s. “We’re just going to do this and they can make the rest up for themselves. Until we find a title ... if we ever do.”

 

***

They decided to head back to Thomas’ house doing what all newly in love couples, that were regularly cockblocked by their adorable – yet also annoying – kids, which were at the moment in the capable hands of a trusted person, would do.

As soon as the front door clicked shut, hands grabbed Thomas and drew him closer to a broad chest. His mouth was captured in the same moment, and said hands slid over his ribs to his lower back, where they wrestled with his shirt. In the blink of a moment, he was half naked and Craig’s lips firmly attached to his nipple. He couldn’t help the moan that escaped him and unceremoniously stripped Craig of his shorts and boxerbriefs.

“Unfair, I have my dick out and you’re practically fully clothed. Gotta change that.” There went the rest of their clothes. When both of them were finally completely nude Craig mumbled “Now it’s a fair game.”

“Well, now that we are already here it would probably be a good moment to mention that neither of us has yet taken a shower after the intense and sweat inducing workout we had. So for hygiene’s sake it would probably be good on us to wash up and then continue this.”

Craig stopped his nibbling at Thomas’ jawline, took a step back and said, very seriously for somebody whose boner was slapping against his stomach, one word. “Showersex.”

With that he picked Thomas up, threw him over his shoulder and carried the other, screeching man all the way to the bathroom where he was gently placed in the shower stall. He turned on the shower –both of them gasped like suffocating fish when the icy water hit them.

“Dude!” Thomas placed his hand above Craig’s to twist the knob to a higher temperature.

“Sorry, I forgot I took a cold shower this morning to get rid of my hard-on.” They stared at each other for a moment, then burst into laughter.

“The glorious life of a dad. Come here.” Thomas pulled Craig closer and kissed him deeply. They stood there for a while, enjoying the warm water raining on their backs and each others’ caressing hands and mouths.

When Thomas tried to sink to his knees, Craig kept a hold on him “Would you let me fuck you, Thomas?”

“In the shower? I’m pretty sure that’s a setup for a really embarrassing ER visit.” He thought about it. “Get the lube from the bedroom.”

Craig left and was back in what must have been record time. He waved the tube of lube around in great victory, then to Thomas’ great surprise sat down on the bottom of the shower and tugged at the other one until he sat in his lap.

“This might be a bit uncomfortable on the knees for you, but better than slipping and cracking your head on the tiles.”

“So thoughtful of you. Maybe I should have done some stretching exercises before this.”

“Don’t worry; I’ll stretch you plenty well.”

Craig certainly kept that promise. He took his time, making sure Thomas was ready to take him. It was only when Thomas was a whimpering, moaning mess that he positioned his lover and pushed in. Both groaned and stilled for a sweet minute, as the falling water seemed to create a barrier between them and the world outside. Gentle hands brushed Thomas’ hair away from his forehead; the kiss that followed was so tender, he barely felt it.

“Are you alright?” Craig’s eyes stared into his.

“Craig, move. Please.”  And he did.

They started off slow, taking the time they usually simply didn’t have. Increasingly they became more desperate, their bodies moving erratic against each other, trying to reach that amazing high. It was Thomas who came first, clinging to Craig, driving his nails into his shoulders and calling out his name.

Craig followed suit, the hand he had wrapped around Thomas erection joined to other one at his hips. His fingers dug into the delicate skin, creating marks that they would both trace over in the coming days.

Then he threw his head back – and collided with the wall. His moans of passion quickly turned into moans of pain. Both immediately sobered.

“Holy shit Craig, are you alright?” Craig nodded, but Thomas checked the back of his skull anyway, to make sure there was no blood. After he was assured that the worst to come of it would be a headache, he grinned “I told you showersex is dangerous.”

“Worth it. Also – “ He looked down at their stomachs that were covered in semen. “Easy cleanup.”

 They both got up from the floor; washed, kissed the marks they left on the other one better and eventually left the shower.

 

***

“I should probably go get the kids and take them back to the house for now. Do you want to come along?”

“I might come over later; I still have to finish the last bits of my novel and send the script to the editor.”

“Fine, but if you don’t show up I’ll bring the kids around to bully you until you submit and join us for dinner.”

“Will they go all _The Shining_ on me?” That was a prospect to look forward too.

“Probably, they worked on their act with Amanda last week over Skype. Tried it on me to get out of doing their homework, but when River started giggling they couldn’t keep it together.”

“River is the sunshine everybody needs in their life.”

“You tell me.” He kissed Thomas on the forehead. “So I’ll see you later. Enjoy your alone time whilst I wrestle with three energetic girls that probably had too much sugar.”

As soon as Craig was gone, Thomas settled down in front of his computer. He re-read where he had left off. Then he re-read the first couple of pages of the chapter. He went back to the end of the page and started typing. Five hours later, he was officially done with the writing process of his new novel. He felt pretty good about it and the emotional ending he had dreaded had actually turned out just right.

He leaned back in his chair, typed a quick email to his editor and sent off the script. Afterwards, he cleaned up the coffee mugs and made his way over to Craig’s house, where they ate chicken with vegetables and collectively fell asleep watching Mary Poppins.


	4. The Return of the Daughter

“When will she be here?”

“I don’t know, depends on the traffic. I’m sure it won’t be much longer.” Thomas carried River to the sink to wash her hands and face. She had covered herself expertly in her dinner. Maybe a change of clothes would be necessary as well.

“You said that earlier and now –“

The front door swung open. The twins bounced off their chairs, where they had drawn pictures for Santa half-heartily, and ran to the door. Only to make sounds of disappointment when their mom and her boyfriend entered, packed with presents for each of the girls.

“Well, that’s one greeting I didn’t expect to receive. A little more cheeriness would be appreciated if your mother comes by to gift you with love and material goods.” Smashley – Ashley – Thomas had to remind himself, put the boxes on the floor and drew both girls into a hug. Her boyfriend, Josh, if Thomas remembered his name correctly, stood awkwardly next to her and waved at Thomas.

Whilst he dried River with a clean towel Thomas greeted them “Hi, it’s nice to see you again. Craig is still out, Joseph asked him to help with the Christmas bake-sell. Apparently he’s the only one in the entire cul-de-sac who won’t eat everything himself instead of trying to sell it.” He stepped forward, pecked Ashley’s cheek and shook Josh’s hand. “I’m sure he will be back now any minute.”

Ashley took her youngest daughter off of him and concluded “Looks like spinach was on the dinner plan tonight. Hi, my sweet baby.” She cooed at River. Then she continued a bit more adult-friendly “We won’t be long; technically we should already by on our way to the airport. Otherwise we’ll miss the flight and the skiing weekend won’t be happening.”

Craig had once explained to him that there were lots of reasons their relationship had ended in divorce. What it came down to was that Craig was fine with settling down, establishing a routine around the kids and living the life of a tied-down, cul-de-sac dad.  Ashley was different, the twins had been a happy accident but the more time she invested in being a mom, the unhappier she felt. Before Briar and Hazel were born, she and Craig had been adventurous, travelled and partied. Craig changed when the twins came along, Ashley tried to be the mother of his children he needed and wanted, but ultimately felt like their relationship fell apart. They made the classical mistake of thinking that another child would draw them closer together. Only weeks after River was born, they signed the divorce papers.

None the less, Ashley was a great mom, she cared for the girls and would move heaven and hell to get to them if anything happened and they needed her. But in order to be a good mother, she needed her own space and the adventures she had missed with Craig at the end of their relationship.

The door opened. The girls peeked up. Craig walked in. The girls dropped dramatically to the floor, sighing in disappointment. Craig took a look at them and concluded “So Amanda still isn’t here.” He shook Josh’s hand as well and gave a half-hug to his ex-wife, careful not to squeeze the toddler between them.

“We were about to head out. As I’ve said, we will be back on the 29th to pick up the girls and celebrate New Years with them. Presents -” She pointed at the boxes on the floor “Are ready to be put under the tree. My blessings for a calm Christmas Night and Day, it probably won’t happen but a positive attitude won’t hurt.”

“I’ll try to remember that, and in case everything goes downhill I still have Thomas to be my miracle Christmas helper.”

“Me too.” The girls turned so fast, they must have twisted their necks. Amanda stood in the doorway that led to the garage and grinned at them triumphal. Briar and Hazel shot into the air, sprinted across the room and climbed Amanda like a tree. After the twins had finally let go, Amanda walked over to Thomas and hugged him as tight as she possibly could.

Thomas, whose eyes were _not_ tearing up, whispered into his daughter’s ear “I’ve missed you so much Amanda Panda. The house feels empty without your terrible music and dramatic re-enactments of dog encounters.”

“I would like to say I missed your dad puns, but you taught me not to lie so I won’t. I did however miss the cherry pie and the collective experience of Ice Road Ghost Truckers.”

When Thomas finally released her from his hug, she went on to greet Craig (with a hug) and shook Ashley’s and Josh’s hand. Then she picked up River and pulled faces at her, which both toddler and adults found hilarious.

Ashley and Josh figured it would be a good moment to say goodbye, before the twins dragged Amanda off somewhere to play. The girls were not too upset about their mom not being there for Christmas – with Amanda around, the time spent was going to be fun either way. To be honest, the last couple of years had been weird with their parents trying to act civil towards each other and miserably failing. Seeing their dad and mom be happy, even if it came at the cost of not having them near at the same time, was the better option. A plus were also Amanda and Dad 2, as they had jokingly started to call Thomas behind his (and their father’s) back.

“Father, I would like you to know that I’m starving. Would you two be so kind to hurry along the dinner preparations whilst I entertain the shortest of our get-together?”

“... Don’t you dare speak in that tone of voice with me.”

“Fine. Pops, feed me, please.”

“That’s better. You know not to use that fancy language in my house ... or by extension in Craig’s house.”

Craig stepped up behind him, wrapping an arm around his waist and leaning into him. “Same thing, really. Dinner will probably be here in thirty minutes. We’ll order Pizza. If you’re already having a go at babysitting, would you mind changing River into something that makes it less obvious that she’s trying to create body paint with her mashed carrots and cream spinach? The twins will help you pick a nice outfit, I’m sure.”

“Sure thing, man who will provide me with ‘za. Come on, my little minions, let’s play dress-up.” Amanda carried River, Hazel and Briar led the way to the toddler’s room.

“Are you actually going to eat Pizza with the rest of us, or will you order one of those salads again?” Thomas twisted around in the arms that held him.

“Pepperoni, tripping with grease of cheese and low-quality meat-products.”

“That’s one of the sexiest things I’ve heard you say ever since we started dating.”

“Would it do you in if I tell you I also plan on ordering tiramisu for dessert?”

“If there weren’t minors in the next room waiting for their food, I’d take you to bed right in this moment ... not trying to change the subject, but we probably should order now. Amanda will throw a fit if the food doesn’t arrive soon. She always gets cranky after a long car ride.”

“You know what she wants?” He pulled his phone out of his back pocket. Thomas had forced him to save the number of the pizza place not too long ago, arguing that they also delivered a nice variety of salads and food for health-conscious people. This wasn’t exactly true as oregano couldn’t be considered a salad, but whatever.

“Chicken, bacon, extra cheese and tomatoes for Amanda, also garlic sauce. Vegetable Pizza for me – what, why are you looking at me that way? I happen to like veggies on my pizza more than pepperoni or ham.”

“Fine by me, I’m not judging. I support Robert in liking pineapple on pizza, everybody should be allowed to choose the pizza toping of their preference, without being discriminated or questioned about it.”

“... yeah, we’re having sex tonight. Or at least make an effort to.” After a pause, he continued. “This might actually be a metaphor about sexual preference.”

“Pizza or the free choice of a partner to love and cherish ... where is the difference?” He dialled, gave his order to Rico and hung up. “So, what are we going to do while we are waiting?” He pulled Thomas closer, pressing a kiss against his jawline; clearly insinuating what Craig would _like_ to do.

“Clean up the mess the kids made at the table and put the presents under the tree.”

“Oh come on.”

“Craig. If the kids have gone to bed and I have some remaining life-force in me, I would rather spend that energy vertical with you than clean up this chaos and pass out on the bed. Time management is important.”

Craig could understand that reasoning. The doorbell rang just as Craig wiped down the table and the last of the presents had found their place under the tree, where they would remain until Christmas morning. Thomas opened the door just to find Rico himself standing there with their order.

“Ev’ning Tom. I heard Amanda is back in town?”

Amanda chose that very moment to show up, the other girls in tow. “RICO! How’s it going?” She ran to the door and drew the pizza place owner into a hug.

“Same old, same old. Annie sends her greetings and well wishes.” He passed the boxes over to Amanda. “Garlic bread is on the house. How you doin’ in college?”

They chatted away; Craig leaned into Thomas and asked “Are you always this close to your pizza deliverer?”

“Rico’s food practically kept us alive for the longest time. His wife, that would be Annie, loves Amanda’s photographs and hung them everywhere in the Pizzeria. She even hired Amanda to take pictures at her second cousin’s wedding. They turned out great and Amanda brought home so much leftover food we had enough for the next three days.”

“Living the highlife, huh? If the pictures were anything as artistic as River’s choice of clothes, they must have been amazing.”

River was dressed in bright green tights, a blue and white polka-dot dress, two different shoes (one yellow, the other purple) and an orange ribbon in her dark hair. She didn’t seem to mind as she kept giggling at her sisters, who pulled faces, tickled her and blew raspberries on her cheeks.

Thomas shrugged “At least she’s not wearing sunglasses.”

After Amanda had said goodbye to Rico, she closed to door and dumped the pizza boxes onto the table. “I’m starving. Sit down everybody, or I’ll enjoy this feast without you.”

It didn’t take a second invitation, they all took a seat – River was securely strapped into her highchair – and munched away at the Pizza. After they were stuffed and it had actually gotten quite late, they figured it would be time for bed for the little ones. River was barely awake by the time she had been changed into her pyjamas and fell asleep without a protest. Briar and Hazel were a different matter altogether.

First they refused to brush their teeth, then they insisted on a bedtime story told by Amanda and Thomas. Amanda rolled her eyes when her dad started off by saying “Once upon a time there was a horse named Sir Horsington” but played along well enough. The twins protested again when they found out that Amanda was allowed to stay up longer than them, however Craig wouldn’t hear anything about it and didn’t bend to their whining.

The adults – Amanda included – settled down at the couch. Thomas had his arm wrapped around his daughter, keeping her tucked into his side. He could acknowledge that Amanda was a grown-up, but she was still his baby and he would hold her until she would no longer allow it.

They talked about college, shared stories of their own youth – Craig dared bringing up the fish incident – until it was well past midnight and Amanda could no longer stop herself from yawning.

“If you’d like to, there is a guestroom opposite the twins’ room. I know you only live across the street, but I’d imagine it would be much more comfortable to stay here than to walk back and forth.”

 “Thanks Craig. I’m going to take you up on that offer.” She smirked. “Will also be easier on dad, not having to walk me home and sneak back when he thinks I’ve fallen asleep.” She walked off, leaving them to themselves.

“She’s not wrong.”

“Too smart for her own good sometimes.” Thomas got up and reached his hand out towards his ... whatever. “You coming?”

Craig reached out and took said hand “Oh, I will.”

“Predictable comeback, bro. Disappointing.”

“Shut up and move your legs rather than your mouth.”

“I thought you like my mouth?”

“I will more than like it later on.” The raced each other to the bedroom.

 

With the door firmly locked behind them – the girls knew to knock, but it was better staying on the save side than causing a childhood trauma – they hopped onto the bed. Craig took the indicative, he usually did, in stripping them of their clothes. They had reached a point in their relationship where they knew each other’s bodies; likes, dislikes, ways to bring the other one to the brink of an orgasm. Of course, they had seen each other naked plenty of times previous, there was no avoiding it when you shared a tiny room in college. (As well as the fact, that Thomas had a bit of a nudist streak in second semester. He got arrested once for sprinting across the campus naked. Amanda must never find out about this.)

In the years since they had left college, they had obviously changed a lot. Thomas, who had been a beanpole ever since puberty hit, filled out and developed some fat in places he’d rather not.

Craig had gone through the obvious changes after improving his diet and going from exercising nothing but his thumbs while playing Mario Kart to being a regular at the local gym.

In the last couple of months each went through physical changes again. Thomas became leaner and more muscular; Craig’s physique had started to look less like he had poured himself into a carved mould and more like a fit person that obviously worked out but not to an obsessive extent.

Thomas pushed Craig onto his back and straddled his knees “I want to blow you.”

“God, yes.” Craig’s finger twisted themselves into Thomas’ hair, unconsciously pulling him closer to his erection, which was in dire need for attention.

There was a knock on the door. “God, no.” Craig paled and seemed as if he were in physical pain. He looked down at his cock, then at Thomas and finally at the door.

“Go into the bathroom and get yourself off, I can handle this.” Thomas jumped off the bed, put his pyjama bottoms on and gave Craig the look that spoke clearly “run now or suffer in silence”.

Craig’s expression resembled that of a kicked puppy. He sprinted to the bathroom as fast as he could with an enormous hard-on between his legs, caught the boxers thrown at him and slammed the door shut.

Thomas checked out his crotch. The pants covered what remained of his erection well enough, so he unlocked the door and opened it.

Briar stood in the hallway, clearly distressed. There were traces of tears on her checks and she clutched a stuffed turtle. Thomas crouched down and pulled her into a tight hug that she returned. It didn’t seem like she would want to let go anytime soon, so he lifted her up into his arms as he got up again. She was too big to be carried around but he figured it would be the easiest way to comfort her.

“What’s wrong Briar?” He bounced her lightly up and down, speaking softly.

“Nightmare.” She buried her head into his shoulder, hiding her face.

“Do you want to talk about it?” She shook her head.

Because he had no idea where to go from here, he sat down on the bed, still shushing und bouncing her lightly. Next door the toilet was flushed, the tap turned on and then the door opened.

As soon as he was close enough, Briar pulled her dad in as well, forcing him to sit down on the bed pressed against Thomas. She ended up clutching to both of the like an octopus.

“Do you want to sleep in our bed tonight, little bro?” Again she nodded. It took some work to settle down, but eventually they managed with Briar squeezed between the two men.

 

“Man, I’ve I’d known you’re having a pyjama party I would have whipped out nail polish and face masks.”

The occupants of the bed needed a minute to wake up, only to realise that instead of three people there were now four.”

“Mor’nin.” Hazel yawned. “Before you ask, I woke up to get some water and noticed Briar wasn’t in her bed. So I went to check and figured I might as well sleep here.”

“I want you to know that River and I feel excluded from this family. We’d like a formal excuse.”

Craig and Thomas threw a look at each other and simultaneously shrugged. Thomas threw back the blanket and soon enough Amanda had joined them, passing River to Craig. “She needs a diaper change, by the way.”

Craig and Thomas both just sighed.

 

On Christmas Eve, Amanda finally managed to corner Craig and have a conversation, just the two of them. Thomas had gone over to his house to get the presents he had kept there, not knowing whether they would celebrate Christmas together or not. Both Craig and Amanda made it perfectly clear that they would.

“Craig, you need to ask my dad. He’s not going to do it without knowing you’re alright with it.”

“Ask? What?”

“For him to officially move in, you can’t be subtle about it, he needs to be told straight to his face. Dad practically lives here already and you’re not making a secret out of the fact that you enjoy it. Hell, you even embrace all the clutter he brings with him to your Barbie modern dream-house. I’ve seen your living room before, and there was no antique lamp on the sidetable or seashells on the shelf, next to the picture dad took of me when I was in my horse-phase – and just saying, it’s not cool to have this stain in my past out in the open for everyone to see.”

“Sorry but ... do you think he would want me to ask him? And are you alright with living here whenever you come for a visit?”

“Yes to both. The only reason dad is still in the house are all the things he keeps in it to remind him of me, the people he loves and his past. You could throw him into a cave in the middle of nowhere and he’d be content as long as he still had his photos, the china he got from grandma Dawn and the fridge magnets we buy whenever we travel somewhere. It’s not the house he’s attached to, but the things in it. Now, your house on the other hand has you, the twins and River; as well as plenty of space for all the knickknacks he has collected. As to your second question, you might want to check out your guestroom.”

 Craig did, and found that Amanda had already transformed the former impersonal room into one that was most certainly hers. The walls were covered in photographs, some of the books and DVD’s she had kept in her room – that was apparently now her old room – had already found a new place. Somehow she had even managed to move in the old trunk she bought at a yard sale ages ago.

“Let’s hope your right with your assumption.”

 

Craig went over to Thomas house and let himself in. Thomas had already put all the presents into two big shopping bags. He was just about to get them and leave, when he bumped into Craig.

“Move.”

“... Beg your pardon?”

“I’m asking you to move into my house, which would then be our house. I love having you around; I enjoy the fact that you strategically place random clutter everywhere more than I’d like to admit to myself, and the girls throw a fit every time you leave for longer than three hours.”

“What about Amanda?”

“She already moved in before either of us knew. The guestroom is now officially Amanda’s.”

“Well, then it’s settled.” Thomas directed a smile at Craig that made his heart flutter. “I suppose I could always rent this house out and support Amanda with the extra money.”

“Yeah, we could use another sexually flexible single dad around here for one of our lonely hearts to fall in love with and sit under your cherry-blossom tree. See, benefits all around. Now, let’s go home.”

“I’d love to go home with you bro.”


	5. Good and Bad Times

“Hazel and Briar Cahn, if you don’t stop fighting this instant, both of you will have to do the dishes for the next two weeks!”

“But she started it!” They replied in sync and continued insulting one another.

“I really don’t care who started it, I want you to stop.”

“But-“

“No buts. Do as I say.”

“You’re not our dad!”

“I hate you!”

Thomas couldn’t even pretend that those manipulative words hurt. He already knew their game and it wouldn’t work. After all, he had been the one dealing with Amanda’s outbursts of rage and the occasional “I hate you”. One time she had told him that she wished he would have been in the car accident and Alex still alive. That had been a lowpoint. However, those occasions hat taught him that kids would say anything to get away with bad behaviour. They couldn’t judge how hurtful they were (some people couldn’t well into adulthood).

“Well, I love you. I don’t like to see you fighting. And your dad has given me permission to rule over you until he’s no longer knocked down by the pest.”

From their bedroom a husky “That’s right” could be heard. “Shut up Craig! You barley have a voice as it is, don’t yell.” Silence followed. Good.

“Now, I’m not going to ask you to shake hands and make kissy faces at each other. But I expect you to be civil, especially now that River and your dad are not feeling well. If you can’t contain the violence, then avoid each other.” He snatched the iPad, which had been the kickoff for this drama, out of Hazel’s hands. “I’m going to keep this. Since you don’t like to share, neither of you is going to play with this piece of electronic trash.”

The twins walked off in different directions, both sulking. Thomas went to have a look at his patient.

“How are you doing?” He didn’t wait for an answer and instead checked Craig’s temperature by pressing the inside of his wrist to Craig’s forehead. The skin was too hot and clammy, he was soaked in sweat and shaking.

Thomas’s hands (and feet) tended to be icy. Amanda joked that it was probably due to spending so much time in front of his computer – typing and not moving otherwise – that his brain presumed he was dead and turned off the heating. Craig, who grabbed Thomas’ hands and pressed the palms to his face, didn’t seem to mind at the moment.

“Nice of you to use me as your personal ice pack, but I’d rather get you a real one. I need those hands to tend to your daughters.” Thomas took his hands off Craig’s face and walked into the bathroom to wet a cloth with cold water. He wiped Craig’s face and chest down, then placed the cloth on the back of his neck to cool him.

“River?”

“I put her down for a nap. Earlier she had a slight fever and was a bit cranky. Nothing to worry about, that usually happens when they get their shots. Amanda was the same and she’s still alive and kicking. Do you need anything else before I check on her?”

“Can you help me sit up? I’d like to drink some water but I’d probably just succeed in drenching myself and the bed.”

Without answering, Thomas wrapped his arms around Craig’s torso and pulled him up into a sitting position. He told him to lean forward a bit, then jammed a pillow in-between back and headboard to make sitting easier and more comfortable. A glass with a straw appeared in front of Craig’s face and he sucked on it greedily, glad the water soothed his rough throat and washed away some of the taste of the medication he had been taking.

“If you urgently need anything, text or call me. Do _not_ yell. I’m going to check on River and make sure Briar and Hazel are not wrecking havoc.”

Craig gently took his hand, weaving their fingers together “You’re a good nurse and an even better father.” He sounded almost too sincere.

“Thank you. I had a lot of practice back in the day. Amanda broke a lot of things, including herself. I’ll be back in a bit, rest.”

If he’d have expected anybody to come down with the flu, it certainly wouldn’t have been Craig. In the beginning it was just a bit of a cough, nothing to serious. Thomas told his stoic _beloved_ to take it easy, which the idiot naturally didn’t do. Instead he’d gone for a ‘relaxing’ run, got caught in an icy spring downpour and was now knocked down with fever, muscle pains and coughs, dizziness, a sore throat and the sniffles.

When he entered River’s room, she was already awake. She stood in her crib, holding onto the bars, and smiled at him. “Papapapa!” She chattered away, clearly giddy to see him.

“Good morning River. Did you sleep well?” He took her out of the crib. She kept babbling on and he checked her temperature, noting she felt a lot less hot. To make sure he took her temperature again with the thermometer. It was just fine. “Do you feel better honey? I’m sorry you had to get those shots, but to get the actual disease would suck much more. You’d almost be as whiney as your dad. Are you hungry?”

River let out a loud and very excited screech, clapping her hands. “I’ll take that as a yes.” As Thomas tried to walk away, she pushed against his chest, which was basically her way of telling him to put her down so she could walk by herself. He did and took her hand instead. She was very proud of her newfound ability and who was Thomas to stop her – even if it took twice as long to get anywhere.

Once they had reached the kitchen, a crash could be heard from the bedroom. He swooped River up and made a run for it. On the floor in front of the bathroom door he found Craig, he had, by the looks of it, tried to get into the bathroom unassisted.

“Remember the time I called you an idiot? I’ll add this to my collection of examples.”

“I was trying to take a shower.”

“Well, that wasn’t very successful, was it? Hold on, I’ll put down River and help you up.”

Once River was settled safely on the ground, Thomas stepped behind Craig and wrapped his arms around his chest. It took quite a bit of dad strength to get him up, but they managed and soon he was back in bed.

“So, why again did you think this would be a good idea?”

“I feel kinda gross, so I thought a shower would help. Everything went well-“

“Until it didn’t?”

“Suddenly I got dizzy.”

“Nevermind. If you want to take a shower, I’ll help you. What kind of nurse would I be if I didn’t provide you with sponge baths?”

“I didn’t want to bother you.”

“You don’t. I signed up for this out of my free will. And getting to ogle at you in the shower is not exactly the material my nightmares are made of. Quite the opposite, actually.”

“Papapapapapa.” Thomas picked River up from the ground, holding her Lion King style towards Craig. “Your little bro clearly wants your attention. But no touching, we don’t want your germs on her.”

Craig smiled sheepishly “You know that you’re papa, right? She calls me dada.”

“Oh.” There was a moment of silence

“Papa?” River twisted her head around as far as possible. She looked quite serious. Well, as serious as a toddler dressed in taco-pyjamas – courtesy of Amanda – could be.

“Yes honey?” He pulled her close to his chest.

“Foo!”

“That’s right, I was just about to feed you.” He looked at Craig who was still smiling softly “Will you be alright for now? I’ll see if I can get one of the twins to watch River so I can help you shower later.”

Craig nodded “Yeah, that would be great.”

 

Thomas was aware that he was not the world’s most observant person. Part of it was that he simply didn’t care. Playing Sherlock Holmes about every little thing that was off would have sent him into insanity.

However, some things even he could not avoid taking notice of. It all started when he walked in on Craig having a conversation with somebody on the phone. He looked quite serious, but would crack a smile every then and now. When he noticed Thomas, he excused himself and hung up.

Thomas didn’t ask about it. If Craig wanted to keep secrets, he had the right to do so. It probably had something to do with his business anyway, that had to be kept under disclosure.

In the days after the phone-incident, Craig hung out an unusual amount of time with the neighbourhood dads. He went fishing with Brian, watched a wrestling show on TV with Hugo, made a flour bouquet with Damien (Which _was_ weird, as Craig had never shown any interest in plant-life except for the butt-tree. On the plus side, he had gifted Thomas with said bouquet, which had honeysuckle in it.) and had coffee with Mat (Instead of eating it, he brought home the banana bread and presented it to Thomas after the kids had gone to bed. It made Thomas fall in love a little bit more). Joseph took him on his boat to “watch whales”. Thomas was perfectly fine with not joining them for this trip and Craig had seemed a bit disturbed that night when he’d come home. Whales would do that to you. Robert showed up in their bedroom at two am, complimented their lovemaking technique and whisked Craig away under Thomas’ exasperated protests. Craig came back in the early morning with a whittled tree-butt. It found its place on the bookshelf in Thomas’ new office.

One morning, he walked into the kitchen to find the twins whirl around to greet him with a “Morning Pap’s”. For a moment he felt overwhelmed, then he enclosed them in his arms and kissed both of their heads. Meanwhile, River knocked her bowl with porridge over.

Everybody behaved like an alternative version of themselves. The kids didn’t argue back, the neighbourhood-dads were even more helpful and generous and Craig was in a constant state of nervous excitement. It was concerning. Maybe they had all been replaced with aliens and he was the only real human left behind.

 

One Sunday morning in late spring, they decided to set up the girl’s playhouse in the garden. Said playhouse had been bought three years prior and had never made in out of the box in the garage. With the kids around, there had never been time, but right now they were at their mom’s. Thomas and Craig had spent the weekend mostly in bed and figured they could handle the tedious task without murdering each other or breaking up.

“Craig, that’s the wrong way around you fool!”

“It’s not.”

“It is, the hinges for the door go in here, and therefore you need to put it in like this. This goes inside.”

“...”

“Don’t look at me that way. I didn’t design the house or write the instructions.”

“You know, when I was in my twenties I never imagined my dates would at any point consist of building playhouses for my daughters.”

“What did you imagine, a hot girl in a short dress that you take out for dinner and fuck in your car later on?”

“Blowjob in the car first, sex at home in bed, I’m classy after all. Not necessarily a girl either, but I don’t mind the short dress either way.”

“That explains why you’d check out my ass for longer than strictly common for a straight dude ... and keep the dress-thought in mind for later.”

“You in a dress will always have a special place in my heart and in my dick. And I could hardly tell you ‘Hey bro, I figure I might be bi, mainly due to the fact that I have a massive crush on you and your scrawny ass is the embodiment of my wet dreams.’ You had just started dating Alex, he was an awesome guy and I could see you happily raising kids in a tiny cottage with a mutt curled up on the carpet.”

“Before he died, we actually thought about getting a dog, to teach Amanda responsibility early on.”

“I’m sorry that didn’t happen.”

“It’s alright, it turned out for the best, don’t you think?” He smiled at Craig, hoping that he knew just how much Thomas loved him and he was certainly not a replacement for Alex. “We can always get a dog and if I weren’t here today, who would direct you on the construction of the play house?”

“Briar and Hazel, later River as well, would probably benefit from having a pet...”

They dropped the topic and continued working silently.

“There, all done.” Craig dropped the screwdriver, stood up and stretched out his back.

“Only one thing to do, don’t you think?” Thomas opened the door and crawled on his hands and knees into the playhouse. “Come in, Bob the builder.”

“It’s way too cramped in there, we’re probably going to get stuck.” He got onto his knees and followed Thomas anyway.

“What would life be without a little thrill?” He grabbed Craig by the collar of his shirt and pulled him in for a kiss.

“Twenty year old me would also not have expected to make out with his former roommate in a playhouse for their three daughters.”

“Twenty year old you was a guy that thought marinara sauce is a healthy breakfast. He also broke into the principal’s backyard and drank cheap beer in the Jacuzzi. Completely naked.”

“You joined me in the whirlpool, naked as well.”

“I never said it was a bad thing, just something now-you wouldn’t do. I think.”

They looked at each other for a moment, sharing the same thought.

“Brian’s got a Jacuzzi.”

“We’ll figure out when he’s leaving to go fishing the next time.”

“Damn straight we are.”

“There you are. I was wondering where you’d gone to. Look girls, your dads finally build the playhouse.” Ashley set River down, who started toddling towards said playhouse. Craig and Thomas awkwardly crawled out to say hello. “What were you two doing in there?” The girls had given each man hurried hugs and headed into the playhouse – they managed to get in a lot easier.

“We had to test the construction – see if any screws are loose – to make sure nobody gets hurt.” Craig nodded along to Thomas explanation.

“Sure.” Smashley winked at them. “Same drill guys. I’m going to pick them up in two weeks. Have fun, they’re hyped on sugar.”

“Brilliant.”

 

They let the girls play in the backyard for a couple of hours, then called them in for dinner. After everybody was done and the plates and cutlery had been rinsed and put into the dishwasher, River was taken to bed. Briar and Hazel wanted to play hide and seek, Dads vs. Daughters.

Thomas and Craig had to search first; the twins had the advantage of fitting into smaller spaces. One of the rules was, that the hiders had to be in the same place – in the first round they found them squeezed between the back of the couch and the wall. At their go, the two adults hid in the bathtub – easy to find, but there were only so many places two grown men could fit in. It also didn’t help that both of them couldn’t hold back their giggles. In the next round, Briar and Hazel hid under Craig’s desk in his office.

At their last go, Craig took Thomas’ hand and led him away while the girls were counting. They went into Amanda’s room – now even less organised – and hid in the closet. To stop themselves from laughing, they did what every sensible adult would do – making out.

“This is like seven minutes in heaven, except it probably won’t be seven minutes and once we get out of here we’ll have to deal with two schoolchildren that will protest going to bed.” Craig scrunched his nose up at the prospect. “However, every second with you is worth it.” He drew Thomas closer and stepped backwards to lean against the wall.

Suddenly a loud squeaky noise made them jump apart.

Craig looked utterly shell-shocked “What the hell was that?!”

Thomas bent down, inspecting the floor closer “AHA! The culprit!” He held up a pink dog-toy that looked like a drugged-out pig.

“Why would that be in Amanda’s closet?”

“Art project, propably. I hope.”

Craig started chuckling, which soon turned into outright belly-laughter. Thomas tried to shush him at first, which was unsuccessful. Instead, he joined in as well. The both sank to the floor, holding their stomachs. Neither of them noticed the door opening, or how the twins shook their heads at them and left the room, pulling the door shut behind them.

Somehow they had ended up with Thomas lying half on top of Craig. They looked at each other, now that the laughter had died away, smiling softly.

Without giving his brain any chance to interfere, Thomas’ mouth opened “Marry me.”

“Yes.” Craig answered without hesitation. But then, just as they moved in for a kiss, he froze. “Wait, you can not propose to me! I was about to propose to you. I had everything planed already. A BBQ with our friends, Amanda would be there, the kids on their best behaviour so they wouldn’t scare you away last minute. And you go ahead and propose to me in a closet?!”

“Sorry ... do you want to forget this happened, so you can propose to me like you wanted to? I really didn’t want to ruin this for you.”

“Now you’re taking it back? The hell you will, fiancé of mine. It was a beautiful moment, just the two of us, A+ proposal. I suppose we could always surprise everybody by dropping on them that it’s an engagement party.”

“Fiancé, huh? Seems like we’ve finally found a title to introduce each other with. ‘Hi, I’m Thomas, this is my lovely fiancé, Craig, soon to be husband.’”

“You’re a big sappy goofball, you know that, right?” Craig’s thumb moved to caress his bottomlip.

“Until the end of our days, through good and bad.”

 

The End

(for now)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This (main) story has officially come to an end, I wanted to touch upon some of the mayor steps in the development of their relationship and I think I did.  
> However, I have decided to write oneshots that are going to cover some things that are mentioned here but not spoken about further (i.e. what they got up to on New Years, the wedding itself, ...) and what their future holds.
> 
> All that remains to say is: THANK YOU for reading, leaving kudos and/or bookmarking, but especially for taking the time to leave a comment :)


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